Update 5/30/14: Well it’s been two solid weeks of selling shirts and hoodies. Here’s a status update:

We have made a profit of $6000!

That’s 276 orders, and over 500 shirts/hoodies. We have overwhelmed our friendly little neighborhood T-shirt shop but we’ll be scurrying to make sure everyone get’s their order in a timely fashion.

Let’s talk about the funds we raised.

As stated, we will donate 100% of the profit to flood relief in Penn Yan. We will do that once the store is closed, orders are processed, payments are cleared, and everyone is happy (for example, when we’re confident no one will request a refund). For my own administrative and sanity reasons, the profits will be donated at one time.

We’ll be closing down the store to T-shirt orders this afternoon. If you live in Penn Yan and would like to purchase one later, you can go to Flying Colors (on Main St.) and ask (nicely). They have the design and they have our permission to print and sell them (and they will donate the profit as well).

Some folks have requested we sell stickers. I have a limited number on order and will sell some online (same store) when I get them. Stay tuned!

Oh, one more thing (I almost forgot!):

Last weekend, Bill Middlebrook put our design on his Chump Car Race Car (hood, sides, back, and the trailer too!), and made a donation to our fundraiser. I think that’s pretty dang awesome!

——-

In my last post, I shared a bunch of photos I had taken of the flood damage in Penn Yan as well as photos I sourced from friends.

Last Friday though, I was stuck at home with one of my sick kids, and wasn’t able to get out there and help with cleanup. And long story short, my sister Alison and I designed a pretty cool T-shirt and opened an online T-shirt store as a fundraiser for fund relief. It was kind of a whirlwind–We had the design finalized by 10am and the store was open by 2:30pm. We got our first order immediately, and by midnight, we had made a profit of $1000.

It’s a little (a lot) overwhelming the number of orders we’ve had in such a short period of time. We have our work cut out for us once they are printed. We have yet to confirm a pick up location for our buyers, and we have about 160 to send out in the mail.

I’ve gotten several emails from people asking about funds and who is going to get the money, and I thought this would be a good place to give a little report.

I set the cart up to that T-shirt customers could choose where the profits of their purchase are donated to. I listed some of the affected restaurants, some of the affected families that I knew about, and some organizations.

I don’t have a 501c3 organization handy, so I set up the store under my own business, FLX Creative (a web design business). I will admit I was a little hasty in getting this going, as I wanted to start raising money ASAP! Once the ball got rolling and orders were coming in, I realized (DUH) the IRS is going to be more than happy to see that I have made so much extra income to tax in 2014.

Not good, right? :)

While I fully intend to make sure the profits from the shirts go to the selected locations/people/organizations, I will have to work with a non-profit organization in order to make that happen. I have contacted one, and I’m hoping they’ll be able to work with me so I can write some big fat checks to folks who really need our help (and your help, if you bought a shirt!).

I put the first T-shirt order in to Flying Colors in Penn Yan this morning – we have 314 shirts and hoodies being printed this week. I also ordered some extra, so that we can sell some on-the-spot if we have an opportunity.

I’m waiting on confirmation for the location we hope to use Saturday morning to T-shirt pickups (I’m hoping to get the Fire House)

As of this morning, 5/19/14, our profit is about $3800.

I am not sure how long we’ll continue to take orders. And I’m not just saying that to get you to order right now, I’m just saying I don’t know how long we can keep going like this :)

13 Comments

Beth ladd
on May 19, 2014 at 9:40 pm

How do we add people to your list so they can donate.. I’ve had people text me that have ordered asking how do they really know if the donation is going to my parents?

Hi Beth,
Right now, no money money has gone to anyone. T-shirts in the first batch are being printed this week, and getting them to the people who ordered is our focus this week.

If a buyer wrote in a name when they ordered, or picked a name from the list, we will do our best to make sure their request is fulfilled. For income tax reasons, we will have to distribute all funds through a non-profit organization. I will work with an organization to ensure funds go where they are supposed to, and I hope to keep a record of all of it.

I am so glad that I was able to help out favorite businesses in the community, but the shirt was a pretty big disappointment. I received mine on Tuesday and the colors are so dull. The shirts seem awesome and bright online but they are not! Kinda bummed.

Hi Meredith. I can understand your difficulty in wanting to help as soon as things happened, which means you were not thinking the best avenue of giving through a 501c3 non-profit. We all want to help so much! The Yates Community Endowment set up an emergency fund to deal with just that…getting the money…100% of every donation…to the disaster relief effort. The best news, is that we have an anonymous donor who will match every dollar donated. We have chosen the Keuka Housing Council to receive some of our donations because they are so well set up to help with what people really need. We also will be giving the rest to business relief efforts. I’m letting you know this so that you might consider donating your funds to the Yates Community Endowment and having each dollar matched…and ALL OF IT given to disaster relief efforts here at home. Not one dollar stays with us…it all goes to groups in Penn Yan and Yates County. Just a thought….you really could take your great intentions and go even farther. Thanks for thinking about it.

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My name is Meredith and I grew up in the Finger Lakes, but I never really grasped beauty and charms of the area until I moved away. After spending a few years out of state, the beauty of the Finger Lakes eventually lured me back home. Now I use this blog to share adventures in the Finger Lakes with you.